How Frequently To Water, Part II of Watering Your Lawn

Most lawns are watered by some type of automatic sprinkler system or you may have the manual kind which would be you.

One thing to remember, Florida receives on average 60 or more inches of rain a year. Common sense tells you, if it’s raining outside, you don’t need to water. You don’t know how many times I’ve been mowing in the rain and up pop the sprinklers. Not only is that costing homeowners money but what a waste of water. I know some of you have been driving down the road and see all the sprinklers on at a commercial site, while in the pouring down rain.

The answer to the main topic. The University of Florida call for watering lawns as needed basis. So you ask how do I do that? Well it’s determined by observing the signs of drought. Some of those signs would be leaf blades are folding, the grass is blue gray tint, and the big clue is when footprints of tire tracks remain visible after being made.

One important factor in all this would be to watch the weather. If they are calling for rain for the whole week, shut those sprinklers off and save some money!

Let’s look at the amount of water you should use on your lawn. When watering, you only want to wet the turf grass root zone. You don’t want to saturate the soil. Most soils in Florida hold 1 inch of water in the top 12 inches of soil. Generally grass require no more than 1/3 of an inch of water per day. Of course winter is a different story. Grasses only need a fraction of that. So if the grass is showing signs of drought you should water about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Water about two times a week. Remember if it’s raining this does not apply.

There you have it, I hope all this information is helpful, and please come back for the next article… as all ways thanks for reading, please leave your comments.